Hawkesbury Repair Cafe gives new lease on life to rusty, wonky and broken items

Operating on the first Saturday of every month, the Repair Cafe at Hawkesbury Remakery in Windsor allows community members to bring in their broken items to be repaired by volunteers for free - but donations are welcome to help the not-for-profit keep the lights on.

Coordinator Sharon Grech said the idea behind the Repair Cafe was to keep items out of landfill, and also to educate visitors about how to do simple repairs themselves.

If you need something fixed, you can pop on to the Hawkesbury Repair Cafe page on Facebook and let Ms Grech know what items you plan to bring to the next repair day, so she can coordinate her repair team.

"We have volunteers who do test and tag, a jeweller, sewer, electronics and IT. We have people who can fix sewing machines, furniture, garden tools, and general tinkerers," Ms Grech told the Gazette.

"Our volunteers do it because they just like to be helpful - a lot of them are retired and happy to give back to the community.

"It's also meant to teach people to fix their own things, things that can be done at home, by watching their items being repaired."

Ms Grech said the team was focussed on sustainability, rather than replacing professional repair services that need to be done by businesses.

"If it's broken and you were going to throw it away, then at least come in and see if it can be fixed. We fixed everything that was brought in at the most recent Repair Cafe day - it's only occasionally we have to send it elsewhere to have it fixed," she said.

In the lead-up to the next repair day on Saturday, September 5, Ms Grech will either post on Facebook a list of available repair volunteers, or ask the community to give her an idea of what they'd like to bring in so she can rally her troops.

Alternatively, drop into the Hawkesbury Remakery at 126 George Street, Windsor, Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 3pm, to discuss the item you want repaired.

"We've got furniture and all sorts of bric-a-brac that people have donated to us and our makers use it to upcycle or people can buy it for a reasonable price and save it from landfill," Ms Grech said.